Disposal Edge – A Poem About Old Silverware

Do you have old, messed up silverware? Do your spoons have disposal edge?

Lynn Kelley

Here’s one last poem for National Poetry Month. April sure whizzed by, didn’t it?

Once again, I have a video from 1999, practicing for a poetry reading. The poem “Disposal Edge” starts at the 1:58 mark.

Disposal Edge

Sometimes little things grind on my nerves,
like most of our spoons have disposal edge.
“Check the disposal before turning it on,”
I tell my girls.
“We do,” they say, but the spoons speak
for themselves.
I worry that my youngest will cut her mouth.

For years we had a crooked fork,
its tines bent and distorted.
If the kids set it at my place,
I would flip.
My husband chuckled and set me up
again and again
until the day I threw that forsaken fork away.

My friend’s husband died yesterday,
her pain so sharp, it cuts through her very core.
She’s left with a houseful of kids
and a heart full of sorrow.
Sort of puts bent forks and disposal edge spoons
into perspective
~Lynn Kelley

To read more poems from recent blog posts:

Spool

The Taste of Poverty

What are your thoughts? Do you ever forget to check the garbage disposal for silverware or other objects before turning it on? Does it make you cringe? Do minor things like bent forks ever bug you? I’d love to hear from you!

Image: Courtesy of Mark Martins – Pixabay

This entry was posted in Grammy Gets It, Lynn Kelley, Poetry and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to Disposal Edge – A Poem About Old Silverware

  1. Wow! Powerful last stanza. Really does put things into perspective, doesn’t it? Another great poem, Lynn! 🙂

  2. Hi Lynn! Wow! I love the prose. I do have older silverware, but fortunately, all are in great shape. Although, how many times as a child did a spoon or fork drop down into the disposal while cleaning the dishes! And of course, you didn’t throw it away. Because it still could be used! Even though it had a disposable edge. No, we were not part of the throw-away-generation. Lol. 🙂

  3. Kassandra Lamb says:

    Yup!! Last stanza says it all!

  4. Yvette Carol says:

    Wow, poignant poem, Lynn. Well done!

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